When I have too much to say, I have no listener. It becomes immensely difficult for a talkative me to keep my thoughts to myself. I have to express it and this happens to be an ideal platform for me to do so.

A Karmayogi for the little girl, a God for others

One day an old lady told her sleepy 4 year old grand daughter to sit straight and shout out baba, baba with a rose in her hand. The grand daughter obediently screamed her lungs out and caught Baba’s attention, but sadly he did not come to her to accept the rose. The grand daughter was sad, but her granny was elated that Swami gave a glance towards the little grand daughter.

A year later, the same granny taught a beautiful bhajan called ‘prema mudita manase kaho rama rama ram, rama rama ram, rama rama ram, sri rama rama ram’ (which roughly means calling out Lord Rama’s name with love in heart) to her now 5 year old grand daughter. She taught many such bhajans, which made the small girl pretty popular in the bhajan group.

The small girl, with constant guidance from her devoted granny and family had deep faith in Sathya Sai Baba.

But as she grew, she started getting distanced from him.

The first crack developed when she saw some corrupt politicians sitting besides him; giving fake speeches. She could not understand the reason why baba was allowing them to share the podium with him.

The crack deepened when she witnessed politics within the bhajan group. Everyone wanted to hog the limelight and show their importance. She could not understand why Baba was not telling them to be good disciples.

Finally, the crack became irreparable when she lost her beloved granny to an illness and when she saw her father’s health turning from bad to worse. Every time that she heard about a miracle, she would go away to another room. She almost started hating the devotees’ double standards. For instance, the same devotees who would say all good things about baba and his teachings would not think twice before hurting a poor lady in the bhajan group.

But despite all this, she still respected him for the good service that he had done to the mankind. For her, he was a saint; a karmayogi. Just think which hospital on this earth would provide you with free, world class medical treatments or which political party has provided the basic water facilities to arid lands? Have you ever done your higher education free of cost? I know you cannot think of any hospital or educational institute offering world class services to people.

Irrespective of who says what, one cannot deny the fact that Sri Sathya Sai Baba has turned the small town of Puttaparthi into a world class destination.

While, we may be curious about his 40,000 crore empire or his successor or whether he is divine or not; let us not sideline his great preaching: ‘Love all, Serve all’ and ‘Help Ever, Hurt Never’ in the process. These teachings should be the guiding principles of life. We cannot create another world class village like Puttaparthi but atleast as responsible, educated individuals we should ensure that we do not harm the society through any selfish or harmful deeds.

Today, as thousands and lakhs of devotees throng Puttaparthi to pay their last respects; the little girl now a grown up woman wept silently because she knew that with one less karmayogi amidst the swarm of selfish and greedy human beings; the balance between good and grey individuals has yet again been affected.

P.S: Here’s an irony: Jesus Christ came back to life two days after his crucification on a Sunday- famously known as Easter Sunday all over the world; while baba left for heavenly abode on this very same day.

The news papers were all full of his pictures.I had read so much about him,good and bad.He had controversies surrounding him.

In spite of all this,I respect him as a selfless saint who contributed to humanity.It is easy to do arm chair criticisms,but difficult to do things.I don't have an idea about the divinity part,but I know there are people who believe in him.

Hi dear,,I don't think he was a godman, or reincarnation (don't intend to hurt anyone's feeling here),,,but, as you say, we really need to appreciate what he has done..I've heard a lot about the educational institutes (one of my friend's bro is doing his higher studies in Medicine in Saibaba institutes) and I've seen the saibaba medical institute in BLR, which is way ahead of any other multi-speciality hospitals in the city. Providing these facilities to the lower section in the economy without expecting any return, is the greatness of the man!So far, I've not visited Puttaparti, but sure would visit once, to imbibe that inspiration...

let there be any controversies, issues around that money... I only hope people still walk on the same path he has shown!

I got surprised to see politicians like Vilasrao Deshmukh in Puttaparthi. He is the same man who made fun of farmers committing suicides in maharashtra..

As far as satya sai baba is concerned I am very much sure he is not god ...Star News some years back showed how he fools people with some silly tricks..Nevertheless, he has spent lot for benefit of people and that's admirable.

Harman, even I hope that people follow his preachings, but something in me tells that people wont follow his preachings.

Bikram, he has done all good things for the people in puttaparthy as well as for villagers in Maharashtra. That is why despite all the media accusations and personal anger, I respect him.

Chowla sir, yes even I pray for the same.

Dr. Anthony thanks for the appreciation. Yes it is very easy to criticize people but rarely does anyone do such charitable work. A report said that baba has used only 8% of what he had amassed during his lifetime...my question is, would any other person utilize even that much? I am sure they would not have utilized even 0.8% of that money.

CV you are absolutely right, for a moment we should sideline all the controversies and give him due credit for the excellent social service that he did. irrespective of whether he is divine or not, the fact that he has served the poor should be appreciated. My cousin sister studied there and must say she has graduated with some lessons on good values and principles.

insignia true but cynical media and people will only focus on the negatives.

Prasad...I had seen Uma bharati sharing the podium with him and had heard her speak about doing good acts. This was in 1997- just 5 years after the Babri Masjid incident. I was fuming because the scenes of riots were still fresh in my mind. I admired him for his good work and his principles such as: no wasting of food, extending a helping hand to the poor, adopting tribal villages etc.

Have never followed any Godmen, but this man has done very notable social service and I've been to his hospital in Bangalore which provides free consultation and medicines to this day. Appreciate that, and may his soul rest in peace.

G3....so u r back to blogging....(or am I!!)This is the same story (almost same)of a little boy...(Do I need to say who the boy is!!!)I do respect him as a gr8 person..gr8 human being ..regardless of all other things (politics around him for example)And the rose thing...(it was the same with me wen i was perhaps in 6th class) hahaha

Hi hari thanks for the compliment :) so u too were a follower of his teachings? Even I respect him for his teachings and the good work that he has done. But i hate the devotees they tend to misguide others just the way popes used to do pre-industrial revolution in England. For instance, someone told my mom that if you calculate using the moon calendar; baba died at the age of 96 only as promised by him

About me

Hi, i am Gayathri Vishwanathan. No not even distantly related to Vishwanathan Anand.
Wanted to be a journalist, but ended up in a usual corporate job.
Mundane activities of life take up my time, and when I reach my saturation point, I try to calm myself either by listening to music or through writing.
Let me warn you, my blogs are nothing like what others write, it is boring and sometimes tiresome (not to forget the thousands of spelling and grammatical errors I make), however I write with the intention to express myself and to strike a personal chord with everyone who reads this blog.
Hope to see you here baar baar lagataar :)